Teachers learning handwriting techniques at Annunciation Orthodox School tried out some of the pre-writing exercises.

Teachers learning handwriting techniques at Annunciation Orthodox School tried out some of the pre-writing exercises.

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Photo: OLLIVIERGIRARDPHOTOGRAPHY

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Formal but fun

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In the hands of students, a curved piece of wood becomes a smile, a crown, an oversized ear.

The shape’s “meaning” changes with its position or role, a message that also holds true in learning to write the alphabet, explained Katrina Erickson, an occupational therapist turned consultant with Handwriting Without Tears. The national program for teachers and parents takes a developmental approach to writing literacy and uses multisensory methods to reinforce the underlying lessons.

At a workshop last week for 35 primary and elementary teachers at Annunciation Orthodox School, Erickson showed how hands-on exercises, manipulatives, music and a superhero named “Mat Man” can impart the rules of handwriting, while reducing the angst.

The frustrations some students feel about their handwriting can lead to tears (hence the company’s name, based on the founder’s child’s learning experience) and even to self-esteem issues, Erickson said.

Handwriting lessons can also deliver other age-appropriate developmental exercises that, for example, strengthen the hand and shoulder muscles used in writing, increase attention to following directions and even promote a few social skills along the way.

And it’s fun. Erickson had her teacher-sized students using their bodies to form letters and singing songs full of letter-writing instructions.

There are three stages of learning handwriting, she said, it’s not just stroke practice. Students have to see, do and practice, she said.

In schools today, students tend to encounter handwriting at the second stage (copying), she said, but need more work at the building blocks of correct letter formation.

When learning handwriting, she said, basic strokes lead to letters which lead to words which lead to sentences and so on. With a strong foundation in these basics, legibility and speed become the goals.

Then, it’s on to cursive writing, a skill that kicks in around third grade.

At AOS, having students in Pre-K to fifth-grade learn the same handwriting program — and the same language of handwriting mechanics — will help support the overall curriculum, said Alisa Eng, director of curriculum and instructional support.

Having previously attended an HWOT workshop, she brought it to the school as part of its whole child development mission.

Erickson said handwriting instruction took a back seat to reading instruction for a couple decades but seems to be on an upswing.

In the workshops she presents across the continent, she typically discovers that only a handful of participating teachers had ever received formal training in how to teach handwriting.

Meanwhile, not all referrals for handwriting related issues are due to underlying learning issues like dyslexia and dysgraphia, she said. Sometimes, it is just a lack of adequate instruction — or even age appropriate instruction.

Despite a trend of children able to read when they hit kindergarten, fine motor skill development and hand-to-eye coordination have their own pace and progression, Erickson said.

“It’s important to lay down the foundation,” she said.

Legible handwriting is still a useful skill, she said, even in a computer-driven world of keyboarding.

If nothing else, when the computer crashes, you have to be able to be understood, she said.